For an initiative billed as being publicly driven, the Common Core States Initiative has benefited enormously from the generosity of the private philanthropy of Bill and Melinda Gates. How much? About $150 million worth.

Take a look at this list of grants, obtained from their foundation’s Web site. Note not only the amounts but the wide range of organizations receiving money. Universities. Unions. State education departments. Nonprofits. Think tanks. The grants were given for a range of reasons, including developing materials aligned to the standards and building support for the standards.

You can see how invested the Gates Foundation is in the success of the Common Core. What kind of Core support do these grants buy from the organizations that receive them?

If you want to see what each grant is for, click here and you can access each grant description. At the bottom of the list are a few descriptions of specific grants.

Date: January 2013Purpose: to support the Aspen Institute’s Urban Superintendents Network, develop resources to integrate Common Core State Standards and educator effectiveness policies and practices, and use lessons from the field to inform national policyAmount: $3,615,655Term: 24Topic: College-ReadyRegions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICAProgram: United StatesGrantee Location: Washington, District of ColumbiaGrantee Website: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/

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Scholastic, Inc.

Date: November 2011Purpose: to support teachers’ implementation of the Common Core State Standards in MathematicsAmount: $4,463,541Term: 37Topic: College-ReadyRegions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICAProgram: United StatesGrantee Location: New York, New YorkGrantee Website: http://www2.scholastic.com

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American Federation Of Teachers Educational Foundation

Date: June 2012Purpose: to support the AFT Innovation Fund and work on teacher development and Common Core State StandardsAmount: $4,400,000Term: 24Topic: College-ReadyRegions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICAProgram: United StatesGrantee Location: Washington, District of ColumbiaGrantee Website: http://www.aft.org

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The NEA [National Education Association] Foundation for the Improvement of Education

Date: October 2012Purpose: to build and enhance teacher voice in the development and implementation of the teacher and leader Professional Growth and Effectiveness System and the Common Core State StandardsAmount: $99,997Term: 8Topic: College-Ready, Global Policy & AdvocacyRegions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICAProgram: United StatesGrantee Location: Washington, District of ColumbiaGrantee Website: http://www.neafoundation.org/

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Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc.

Date: October 2011Purpose: to partner with other foundations to support a project fund supporting state-led efforts aligning higher education placement requirements with college readiness assessments developed through the Common Core assessment consortiaAmount: $4,618,652Term: 44Topic: Postsecondary SuccessRegions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICAProgram: United StatesGrantee Location: New York, New YorkGrantee Website: http://www.rockpa.org

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Khan Academy Inc.

Date: July 2011Purpose: to develop the remaining K-12 math exercises to ensure full coverage of the Common Core math standards and form a small team to implement a blended learning modelAmount: $4,079,361Term: 17Topic: College-ReadyRegions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICAProgram: United StatesGrantee Location: Mountain View, CaliforniaGrantee Website: http://www.khanacademy.org/

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Council Of The Great City Schools

Date: June 2011Purpose: to promote and coordinate successful implementation of the new common core standards in major urban public school systems nationwideAmount: $4,910,988Term: 37Topic: College-ReadyRegions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICAProgram: United StatesGrantee Location: Washington, District of ColumbiaGrantee Website: http://www.cgcs.org

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Council of Chief State School Officers

Date: June 2011Purpose: to support the Common Core State Standards workAmount: $9,388,911Term: 36Topic: College-ReadyRegions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICAProgram: United StatesGrantee Location: Washington, District of ColumbiaGrantee Website: http://www.ccsso.org

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Kentucky Department of Education

Date: June 2011Purpose: to provide organizational support to the Kentucky Department of Education related to implementation of the Common Core State Standards & teacher development and evaluation systemsAmount: $9,125,277Term: 35Topic: College-ReadyRegions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICAProgram: United StatesGrantee Location: Frankfort, KentuckyGrantee Website: http://www.kde.state.ky.us

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Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Date: February 2011Purpose: to provide teachers and school leaders with supports to implement the Common Core State Standards at the district, school, and classroom levelsAmount: $3,024,695Term: 35Topic: College-ReadyRegions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICAProgram: United StatesGrantee Location: Alexandria, VirginiaGrantee Website: http://www.ascd.org